14 DAY TRIAL // Shigeru Miyamoto, who is the designer behind such Nintendo franchises like Mario and Zelda, has said that in order to deliver good games designers need to be driven by desperation, a desire to deliver the best they can in the given situation, without thinking of sales and financial success.
Speaking as part of the Iwata Asks series of interview that the chief executive of Nintendo conducts Shigeru Miyamoto has said, “I think that in the beginning everyone felt responsible for what they’d made. But then we started calculating sales, and thinking about cost performance. Of course there’s nothing wrong with that, but somehow it all becomes someone else’s responsibility at that point.”
He added, “Even within our company, once someone lands the title and position of Director, you have to start thinking about budgets and prestige and you lose some of that passion. I really hate that, the lack of desperation.”
Miyamoto believes that all game creators need to forget about creating gaming experiences that are just “ok” and they should focus on making the best they can regardless of the resources they have at their disposal.
Miyamoto recalled a story about a pro baseball player and his smile on his way back to the bench despite a less than impressive performance, saying that developers should forget about just saving face and create good games.
Some of the statements from Miyamoto might be interpreted as veiled attacks against Nintendo, which in the last few years has seen a slump in sales for both hardware and self-published video games that some blame on the quality of the release titles.
Recently the developer was also critical of the decision to include a complex customization layer in Mario Kart 7 for the Nintendo 3DS, saying that it did nothing but weight down the gameplay.
It’s not clear what new game projects Miyamoto is working on at the moment but they are likely related to the new Wii U home console from Nintendo.